LiS 613
Systems Analysis and Evaluation
Fall, 1995
Prof. Martin Frick
The core problem of this course is: how do you design and implement a public information system that is to meet diverse information needs.
In the past, libraries, in one of their roles, have been such systems. Future systems will be different in form to the traditional library, as there will be a shift from a books-in-buildings model to one of distributed electronic sources. Many issues arise. In addition to the technical and design problems, there are ethical and legal questions (concerning, for example, ownership, copyright, authentication, ...)
We will look at the following topics:
- traditional library automation,
- Systems Theory and information systems in general,
- some aspects of computer science, in particular those relating to database management systems, full text database, and networks,
- general problems of storage, retrieval, and delivery of information,
- documents and new document forms (such as hypertext as exemplified in the WWW),
- information and the Internet,
- information integrity and authentication.
Requirements
The course requirements are:
a) a coursework requirement
b) a final examination.
The coursework requirement will be two individual papers due about 4 weeks and about 8 weeks into the course, at times to be announced in class.
The final examination will be a take-home exam of three hours duration. The final examination will be handed out on Thursday December 7th and has to be returned to my mailbox at latest by Friday December 15th at 4.00pm.
Grading
I use the following scales:
Internal Internal For Graduate School
90-100 A+ A
85-89 A A
80-84 A- A
75-79 B+ B
70-74 B B
65-69 B- B
below 64 C C
Thus, for example, a mark of Internal: 82 A- External: A on a piece of work would be seen by outsiders as an A; however, the A- will convey to you that the work can be improved.
The coursework will count for 60% of the final grade, and the final exam for 40% of the grade.
Academic Code of Integrity
Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the studentUs own.U If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an instructor.
Contacting me
Please raise queries in class, or by email to Fricke@ccit.arizona.edu or in Room
16 during Office Hours (M,W,F 1-3).